Let’s get one thing cleared up before we begin: if the whole Marc Jacobs/Chanel “resemblance” issue over the past several years makes you have a rage blackout, this might not be the post (or the bag) for you. If the appropriation of quilted leather and chains strikes you as more of a winking homage than an out-and-out ripoff, then keep reading. Either way, if you get to the end of this post and are feeling a little stabby, don’t say I didn’t warn you.
For those of you that dig Jacobs’ Chanel-reminiscent handbags, the news that he’s now making the ever-popular “The Single” minibag in not-so-mini sizes is probably welcome news. One of those new bags is the Marc Jacobs The XL Quilting Shoulder Bag, and as the name would imply, it’s supersized for ease of day-to-day use. Oh, another thing to point out: it costs a couple of grand less than a Chanel Jumbo Classic Flap.
For a moment, I thought about turning this into a “Look for Less if You Want to Spend an Amount of Money That Is Merely Asinine Instead of Completely Outrageous” post, but that title seems overly verbose, don’t you think? So instead, let’s try and evaluate this bag on its own merits, which are considerable.
First, it has something that all the Chanel chain-strap bags lack: a leather inset on the handle that helps the bag not dig into your skin or slip off of your shoulder. I’ve found that a flat piece of leather is easily the most convenient and comfortable way to carry a bag, and although it breaks up the line of the chain, I can forgive the aesthetic loss in favor of the bag’s functional gain. You do have to be able to use a bag for it to be fabulous, after all. It also has pockets stashed here and there and a light lining for ease of use, but the bag’s best feature is obviously its price. Buy through Saks for $795.
